In a statement so duplicitous it makes a mockery of credibility, Alexander Dvorkin, vice-president of the European antisect organization FECRIS, funded by the French government, claims that recent actions against innocent members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia were carried out to protect the h

An article July 23 by Daily Caller columnist Joshua Gill exposes the “French Connection” in the Russian Supreme Court’s July 17 ban on the Jehovah’s Witnesses, showing it was the result of a conspiracy funded by the French government, blessed by the Russian Orthodox Church, and sanctioned by the Put

The State of Religious Tolerance in Kazakhstan: Fact vs. Fiction

In opening the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in June 2015, a convocation held every three years in Astana, Kazakhstan, the country’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev presented his nation as “a successful model of coexistence between 18 religions living in peace, harmony and mutual understanding.

U.S. State Department Tells Russia to Cease Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses

In a statement issued July 19, the U.S. State Department called on Russia to end its persecution of minority religions. This was prompted by the Russia Supreme Court’s decision upholding an April ruling labeling Jehovah’s Witnesses “extremist.”

In the first of a video series titled "FoRB in Five"—Freedom of Religion or Belief in Five Minutes or Less—Human Rights Without Frontiers executive director Willy Fautré speaks out on Russia’s criminalizing of a peaceful religion under the 2002 Extremism Law.

Russia Flouts International Law in Threat to Draft Crimean Jehovah’s Witness into Army

Russia has come under renewed attack from human rights groups in the case of a Jehovah’s Witness in Russian-occupied Crimea, ordered by Russian authorities to prove he has renounced his faith or transferred to another religion deemed acceptable by the state or be drafted into the Russian Army.

Russia: Fines, Vandalism Follow Jehovah’s Witness Liquidation

Victoria Arnold, Moscow Correspondent for Forum 18 News Service, a human rights organization based in Oslo, Norway, filed this report on actions against Jehovah’s Witnesses since the Russian government liquidated the religion across Russia in April 2017.

“Grave Concerns” about Russia’s Repressive Policies Prompts Action

The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom has added Russia to its list of “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) for the first time in two decades, prompted by the country’s recent repression of the rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

USCIRF Urges Designation of Russia as Country of Particular Concern

When the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2017 Annual Report April 26 on the state of religious freedom in selected countries, USCIRF Chair Thomas Reese, S.J., said “the state of affairs for international religious freedom is worsening in both the depth and breadth of violations.”

New York Times Reports on Russia’s Supreme Court Ban of Jehovah’s Witnesses

New York Times Moscow correspondent Andrew Higgins wrote about today’s action by the Russian Supreme Court labeling the Jehovah’s Witnesses an Extremist Group: “Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination that rejects violence, an extremist organization.“